Flat knitting apparatus for manufacturing rib knit fabric



July 7,1959 I v J. KUN TZ 2,893,225 FLAT KNITTING APPARATUS FORMANUFACTURING RIB KNIT FABRIC Filed A ril 6, 1956 2 sheets-sheet 1 J.KUNTZ July 7, 1959 FLAT KNITTING APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING RIB KNITFABRIC 2 sheets-shim 2 Filed April 6, 1956 United States Patent i FLATKNITTING APPARATUS FOR MANUFAC- TURING RIB KNIT FABRIC I Application'April 6, 1956, Serial No. 576,743 Claims priority, application GermanyApril 28, 1955 3 Claims. (CI. 66-64) The present invention relates to amethod and a flat knitting apparatus for manufacturing rib knit fabricby means of two rows of needles arranged at an angle to each other, theneedles of each row operating successively, whereby the finished knittedfabric is held down by holding-down plates of the one row of needles.Rib knit fabric can be manufactured with the known hand operated flatknitting, devices of this kind in a useful and trouble-free manner onlyif double-bed knitting apparatus are used. Auxiliary devices forsingle-bed knitting apparatus for the manufacture of rib knit fabrichave already been proposed, but they still have many disadvantages,'suchas complicated structure, difficult manipulation and troublesomeoperation. The needles of the auxiliary device are generally arranged ina fixed manner. As far as the needles of the auxiliary device must bemobile relative to the needles of the main apparatus, this movement isexecuted simultaneously for all the needles of the auxiliary device, orthe single needles themselves are manufactured of elastic material,whereby they then are easily bent or are even broken. vOften specialturning combs have to be used for the auxiliary device. The object ofthe invention is to overcome these disadvantages. This is obtained by amethod of the said kind, which comprises alternately forming rows ofmeshes by the needle row disposed at the main knitting apparatus andholding down them by holding down plates disposed at the main knittingapparatus and the second row of needles disposed before said mainknitting apparatus, the needles of the row of the main knittingapparatus as well as the needles of the row of needles disposed beforethe main knitting apparatus being brought separately and one afterfltheother in the forward and in the rearward position for the formation ofthe meshes by means of a generally known slide or carriage with needleguides and individual to the respective row of needles. A further objectof the invention is to provide a flat knitting apparatus of the kindabove mentioned, in which an auxiliary device is used consisting of aneedle bed with guide grooves and actuated by a slide-like movablecontrol element before the needle bed of said main knitting apparatusand outside of the range of movement of said holding-down plates of themain knitting apparatus and that they are movably and yieldingly heldtoward the bottom side of the guide grooves of the needle bed, forcooperation with said holding-down plates the needles of the row of themain knitting apparatus and the needles of the row of needles of theauxiliary device being arranged in the same vertical plane between theadjacent holding-down plates of the main knitting apparatus.

Further details of the invention will be pointed out in the followingdescription, reference being made to the accompanying drawings.

In the annexed drawing an embodiment of the fiat knitting apparatus witha supplementary device for exe- 2,893,225 Patented July 7, 1959 "icecution of the method according to the invention is diagrammaticallyrepresented.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the flat knitting apparatuswith auxiliary device,

Fig. 2 shows the same apparatus in vertical cross section according toline V-V of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 shows the needle bed of the auxiliary device in vertical crosssection as in Fig.

Figs. 4 and 5 show some needles of the auxiliary device with theirsingle leaf springs as yielding abutments in plane view and in sideelevation,

Figs. 6 and 7 show a holding-down plate for the knitted fabric with apart of the needle bed and of the slide of the main knitting apparatusin side elevation, partly in vertical section, and in lower and liftedposition,

Fig. 8 shows an embodiment of the auxiliary device slide in plane viewfrom the underside.

In Figs. 1 and 2 is the under frame 1 of the main knitting apparatuswith the needle bed 2, the tongue needles 3 carried in parallel grooves,the guide rails 4 for the slide or carriage 5 arranged rectangularly tothe needles 3 and the slide or carriage 5 with the handle 6. Betweeneach two adjacent needles 3 a holding-down plate 7 is pivotally mountedon a common axis or on pivot pins 8. Each of said holding-down plates 7has at its rear end an upward directed lug or extension 9 and a downwarddirected plate-like extension-piece 10. This latter plate-likeextension-piece 10 is guided in a slot 11 of the needle bed 2 and has abore 12 for a pivot pin 8. The front edge or abutment part 13 for theknitted fabric of each holding-down plate 7, extending arc-shapeddownwardly, has at its top a somewhat protruding part 14 which passesover with a recess 15 into the abutment part 13 for the knitted fabricand forms a hook for holding down the knitted fabric.

Behind the abutment part 13 for the knitted fabric and parallel to itthere is provided similarly an arc-shaped pin or stripe 16 with an endcross-piece 17 as support for a return spring 18 of said holding-downplate 7. The parts 13, 16 are guided in a slot 19 of the needle bed 2 orof the underframe 1. The return spring 18, which is a helicoidal springabuts with one end against the radial end cross-piece 17 and with theother end against the under face of the needle bed 2 at either side ofthe guide slot 19.

The holding-down plates 7 repose with their central, horizontal partbetween the plate-like extension piece 10 and the abutment part 13 onthe upper face of the needle bed 2, which may be provided at this pointwith an elastic layer 43 of felt, rubber or the like.

The upper lug or extension 9 at the rear end of each holding-down plate7 for the knitted fabric is controlled by a cam-like abutment 21 fixedby means of an angular bracket 20 at the slide or carriage 5. By slidinglateral engagement of the cam-like abutment 21 with the lug 9, thesingle holding-down plates 7 for the knitted fabric are lifted at theirfront part one after the other with their hook-shaped front ends 14, 15and the fabric abutment part 13 against the action of the single returnsprings 18 by pivoting them around their pivot 8 in the plate-like lug10, so that they can grasp with their hooks at 15 the just formed row ofmeshes and can hold them down.

At the front side of the main knitting apparatus an auxiliary devicewith needle bed 23, tongue needles 24, slide rails 25 for a slide orcarriage 26 with handle 27 is detachably mounted by means of verticalrails 22 making use of bearing rails 28 and screws 29 with wing nuts 30.The guide grooves 31 for the tongue needles 24 in the needle bed 23 ofthe auxiliary device become somewhat deeper towards the top, so that theneedles grooves 31 for the needles 24 have some clearance in thedirection towards the I main knitting apparatus. The upper slide rail 25for the slide 26 can, in its character of upper abutment for 'theneedles 24, be arranged in such a way that it has a somewhat greaterdistance from the bottom of the guide 24 than. the lower slide rail 25.Each needle 24 is pressed by 'means of a' laminated spring against theupper slide rail 25 as an upper.abutment and is held yieldingly in thisposition in which it releases then the knitted fabric held by thehook-shaped parts of the holding-down plates 7 at 15 of the mainknitting apparatus. Only when in their upper position a knitting mesh isformed by the tongue needles 3 of the main knitting apparatus, theneedles 24 are swung by the knitting thread somewhat in the directiontowards the main knitting apparatus against the influence of theirholding springs 32. After the tension of the knitting thread is releasedthe needles 24 are pushed back by the laminated springs 32 in theirnormal position according to Fig 2.

The slide or carriage 26 of the auxiliary device is provided in knownmanner with needle guides 33, 34 and with a needle bridge 35, adjustablein transverse direction to the slide 26. For the supplementary controlof the needles 24 there are provided in prolongation of the needleguides 33 guide members 36, which can be swung upward and which arefixed at pivoted levers 37, and which can be swung together with theselevers around a pivot 38. The pivoted levers 37 extend with pins throughslots 39 of the cover plate of the slide 26 of the auxilary device andmay be used for the adjustment of the guide members 36, knobs 40 beingprovided for this purpose on the end of the cited pins.

The adjustable needle bridge 35 can be adjusted by means of a pivotedlever 41 with knob 42 from the upper side of the slide 26 of theauxiliary device or laterally of this latter for the straight-lineadjustment by means of a straight guide and excentric pin and slotguide. The pivoted lever 41 may e.g. be provided with two pins, one ofwhich is connected rotatably to the adjustable-needle bridge 35 and theotherbeing guided with its end in a transverse slot of the slide 26, sothat the lever with a range of movement of 180 adjusts the needle bridgein its final position to the smallest respectively the largest size ofthe meshes. In the middle position of the needle bridge 35, shown in Fig4, it guarantees a middle size of the meshes.

What I claim is:

1. A flat knitting apparatus with a main needle bed and a supplementalneedle bed, both having parallel guide grooves for the needles, a mainneedle row and a supplemental needle row, the needles of which beinglongitudinally slidably disposed in said guide grooves of thecorresponding needle bed for reciprocated movement for manufacturingknit fabric, including means for actuating said needles in each needlerow one after another for knitting operation, holding down plates forthe finished knitted fabric between the needles of the main needle rowat the needleroutlet side of the main needle bed, the supplementalneedle bed being disposed with its needle outlet side before the needleoutlet side of the main needle bed and angularly to the latter, theneedles of the supplemental needle row being longitudinally slidablydisposed in a plane somewhat spaced from the largest longitudinalextension of said holding down plates and staggered to said oppositeholding down plates of the main needle bed, said means for actuating theneedles of the supplemental needle row including a needle actuatingslide slidably disposed upon the corresponding needle bed, a yieldableguide abutment for the supplemental needle row at the bottom side of theguide grooves of said supplemental needle bed to yieldably hold saidneedles in their position spaced from said main needle bed.

2. 'A flat knitting apparatus as per claim '1, in which at least onerigid guide abutment for the needles of said supplemental needle row ismounted upon the needle bed of the latter serving at the same time asguide rails for the corresponding needle actuating slide, and saidyieldable guide abutment for each needle of the supplemental needle rowbeing disposed oppositely said rigid guide abutment and extendingoutsidely of the corresponding needle bed in elongation of thecorresponding guide groove to a spaced point, adapted to press saidneedles of the supplemental needle row against said opposite rigid guideabutment.

3. A flat knitting apparatus as per claim 1, in which at least one rigidguide abutment for the needles of said supplemental needle row ismounted upon the needle bed of the latter serving at the same time asguide rails corresponding needle actuating slide, and said guideabutment including separate laminated pressure springs fixed with oneend at the bottom of the corresponding guide groove for the needle andextending with the other end to a point spaced from the needle outletside of the corresponding needle bed, adapted to press said needles ofthe supplemental needle row References Cited in the file of this patentUNITED STATES PATENTS 2,254,131 Anton Aug. 26, 1941

